A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that President Trump’s name could not be restored to the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts while the institution fights a judge’s order to remove the name.
For nearly six months, the president’s name was affixed to the center’s exterior marble after a board of his allies voted to rebrand the institution the “Trump Kennedy Center.” A district court judge ruled in May that the decision by the board was unlawful, finding that only Congress had the power to rename an institution dedicated as a living memorial to President Kennedy.
The Trump administration has challenged that ruling and, last month, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to suspend the decision amid its appeal. The request was made only hours before a midnight deadline to remove Mr. Trump’s name from the building, and the appeals court rejected the administration’s emergency motion.
The Kennedy Center removed the letters spelling out Mr. Trump’s name, concealing the result with a matrix of scaffolding covered in tarps. But in court, the institution continued to argue that the president’s name was critical to the center’s financial stability, citing millions of dollars in gifts from donors who “were only willing to do so with the name ‘Trump’ on the building.”
On Wednesday, after further legal arguments, a three-judge panel for the appeals court again rejected the Trump administration’s request to halt the order temporarily. The panel found that the center had not presented specific evidence to show that the removal of the president’s name would harm the center financially. And it noted that the center was not able to recoup the time and money it had spent removing the letters.
“Since that removal has already occurred,” the panel wrote, “a stay would not avert those harms.”
Representatives for the center did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision and whether the center might appeal to the Supreme Court.
The order comes amid a period of uncertainty prompted by the district court’s ruling, which was made in response to a lawsuit brought by Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and an ex officio member of the center’s board who has objected to Mr. Trump’s takeover.
Judge Christopher R. Cooper of Federal District Court in Washington, who ordered the removal of Mr. Trump’s name, also temporarily blocked the president’s plan to close the center for two years for a $257 million renovation project. Judge Cooper found that the center’s board had been “derelict” in considering the possible consequences to programming when deciding to shutter the center. But he did not rule out allowing a closure after a more thorough review.
The closure would most likely have started this week, after Independence Day. But in response to Judge Cooper’s ruling, the center has said it remains operational and open to the public, though its performance calendar is sparse.
In court papers filed last month, the center’s lawyers said the board expected to hold a meeting in mid-July to consider whether to proceed with the closure as planned or opt for another approach such as only a partial closure.
“Although recommendations have not yet been finalized, center management intends to present to the board with an array of options,” the lawyers wrote.
Lawyers for Ms. Beatty have continued to put pressure on the institution to restore fuller operations, saying in court papers that the current plan would turn the center into a “lifeless husk.”
“Having gutted staff and programming, defendants believe they can sit back and allow their preplanned shutdown to commence,” Ms. Beatty’s lawyers wrote.
They have also objected to the tarps that continue to obscure the removal of Mr. Trump’s name, suggesting in court papers that those cloths are intended to “massage broken egos.” The Kennedy Center has said the scaffolding is being used to address some of the building’s maintenance needs.
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